By Richard Delevan

IT’S often been said that one reason the Irish lingered around certain New York neighborhood’s for so long was because of their fierce attachment to local parish schools and churches. 

Other religions simply don’t lay down institutional roots the way Catholics do, and given the fierce Irish attachment to Catholicism in American cities, it’s not surprising that certain neighborhoods were Irish for generations.

Take Inwood, in upper Manhattan. Tommy Mullany knew it was an Irish neighborhood when he moved there in the 1960s, newly married. His wife lived there, and Mullany – whose father came from Roscommon and whose mother came from Leitrim – saw no reason to leave Good Shepherd parish.

The center of parish life was the church at Isham Street.

At about the same time as Mullany was starting his family (three children would eventually walk in and out of the Good Shepherd doors) a group of men got together and started the Good Shepherd Men’s Club.

Mullany, now a retired sales executive, did not join the club until 1971. By then the group was thriving. But he remains active in the club, which is about to celebrate its 40th anniversary.

On April 17, parishioners, alumni, and friends will gather to pay tribute to the club.

“The principal said recently that you can’t look around the school without seeing some involvement of the men’s club,” said Mullany, who resisted the Irish exodus to the suburbs in the 1970s and still lives in Inwood.

“The school now is predominantly Dominican,” said Mullany. “There are a small percentage of Irish American children still attending. To me, the men’s club is keeping the Irish tradition alive in Inwood.”

The Good Shepherd Men’s Club (GSMC) was founded simply to help with extra curricular activities at Good Shepherd. 

According to Mullany, GSMC was initially conceived by the Christian Brothers to help transport students to and from various off campus activities. Soon, a “Sports Night” was developed for the students and raised an impressive amount of money.

Today, Mullany says GSMC coordinates activities to support more than 450 students from pre-kindergarten through 8th grade, and has become the school’s largest donor in the parish’s 79-year history. 

Annual fundraising activities include the famous Sports Night, a New Year’s Eve dinner dance, a Night at the Races, and, of course, St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. 

Funds raised during the GSMC’s 40 years have enabled the school to purchase everything from books and basketball uniforms to scoreboards and, most recently, a state-of-the-art computer and science lab.

“The observance of the Men’s Club’s 40th anniversary gives an opportunity to reflect on the school’s history and to give special thanks for all of the 

support the Club has received over the years from the Christian Brothers, Sisters of Mercy, Paulist Fathers, parishioners, students, friends and family,” said Mullany, who is chairman of the 40th anniversary committee. 

“It also serves as a reminder of our long and continuing partnership with the Inwood community whose contributions have sustained us through the years.”

The anniversary evening will kick off with a mass for the 90-plus deceased members of the club at Good Shepherd Church, 608 Isham Street, at 7 p.m. Later, there will be a dinner dance in the school gymnasium, at 620 Isham & Cooper streets.

Former Good Shepherd students Maura Fogarty and Eileen Fogarty (and her Good Clean Fun Band) will provide the music. 

Mullany acknowledged that membership in the GSMC is not what it used to be, down from several hundred to perhaps some 60 active members. On the other hand, Mullany adds, younger fathers and parishioners have started to show interest in the club.

Perhaps more importantly, the group has signed up some new members of Hispanic backgrounds. If it continues along those lines, another 40 years from now, perhaps an anniversary chairman named, say, Patrick Gonzalez, can look back on the Good Shepherd Men’s Club’s 80th anniversary, and explain how the parish thrived amidst the profound neighborhood changes which seem inevitable in New York City.